


Blackbird

by Aboreal



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Give me a break, Guys i just rly wanted a zombie au, M/M, Slow Burn, Zombie Apocalypse, im really emotional
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-14 19:00:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16918527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aboreal/pseuds/Aboreal
Summary: The sun was beginning to set. He hated that; it only meant bad things to come. Those things were much more active at night, and all he really wanted was a good night of sleep.Well, that hadn’t been a luxury of his for two years. That was when this had all started, when everything he had worked for in his life had crumbled right before his eyes.





	1. Guns and Lemonade

The sun was beginning to set. He hated that; it only meant bad things to come. Those  _ things _ were much more active at night, and all he really wanted was a good night of sleep. Well, that hadn’t been a luxury of his for two years. That was when this had all started, when everything he had worked for in his life had crumbled right before his eyes.

_ “Anthony, don’t point a gun anywhere near someone. Do you want to hurt somebody?” The voice of an older man scolded, bringing his finger to the barrel of the gun to push it to the side.  _

_ “A-ah. I’m sorry, Pops.” He adjusted his baseball cap, looking up at his father with a guilty smile. _

_ There were pans hung along the treeline, ones that weren’t good anymore for the kitchen. The two of them were taking turns shooting at them, trying to get as many holes in them as they could. It was good practice, and fun as well.  _

_ Over the faint radio inside, he heard his aunt call, “Anthony! Come inside and get some lunch!” She stood on the porch with an apron that was dotted with colorful birds. When Anthony was little, he had pointed out to her that his favorite bird on her apron was the blackbird.  _

**_‘Why,’ she had asked him._ **

**_‘Because i think they’re pretty. Everyone likes lookin’ at the birds with big colorful wings, but i like how simple they are,’ he told her over his breakfast one morning._ **

_ Anthony set his gun against the picnic table and flew up the stairs, moving over to the dining table to eat. It had been a hot and sunny day, so he was thankful that she had made some lemonade. Golly, his aunt made the best lemonade. It was the perfect mixture of sweet and sour. He always asked her what her secret was, but she’d never tell him. _

_ The radio on the table played music quietly, and the wind that came through the open window caused the curtains to float like they were a light sundress that he could recall his mother wearing during this time of year. When she had died, an entire chapter of Anthony’s life had ended. But, in a way, he supposed it was okay; he liked living here with his aunt, and getting to spend more time with his father.  _

_ The topic of his mother was still a bit sensitive, especially to his father. If Anthony wanted to talk about it, his father would get up and leave the room or tell him to be quiet. He had burned everything that reminded him or her - clothing, gifts, images. It was okay, though. Anthony had managed to grab a picture of her before his father could destroy it. When he was thinking about her, he would pull the picture out and look at it.  _

_ She had been a beautiful woman. She sat poised on a swing connected to a tree, she wore a yellow dress that was flying in the wind as she swung, and the smile on her face pulled the entire image together. His aunt always told him that he had the same smile as her.  _

_ Anthony, she would say. Anthony, you’re my little dove. A kiss would be placed to his forehead. Anthony, I love you. Anthony. Anthony.  _

_ “ANTHONY! GODDAMNIT ANTHONY GET UP!” His father screamed in his face, causing him to drop the glass of lemonade and snap back into reality. He glanced down at the sandwich that he hadn’t even touched, and then back to his father with a quizzical frown. _

_ “What?”  _

_ His father was already on his feet and had grabbed a hold of Anthony’s arm, pulling him out of the dining room towards the front porch. “We need to go! Get your backpack, dump out everything you don’t need to survive.” He stopped, turning towards Anthony, his face practically glowing red. “Get any weapons you have. There’s an axe on the stump outside, wait to get it until I am with you.” There was a moment of quiet before his father pulled Anthony in for a tight hug. _

_ “Pops, what’s going on?” Asked a wide-eyed Anthony as he hesitantly squeezed his father back. _

_ For the time being, there were no words. That was what scared Anthony. Once his father began to let go, he spoke. “Something terrible is happening, and we need to get out of here as quickly as we can.” His voice was hushed, like he was afraid of Anthony’s aunt overhearing from the kitchen. “Just- please, do what I’m telling you to do. Anthony, listen to me for once. You never listen to me, Anthony. Please.” The desperation in his eyes was growing by the second, and Anthony couldn’t stop himself from nodding wordlessly. _

_ Soon enough, he found his feet moving up the stairs, leaving the sound of his father crashing into the kitchen to grab whatever food he could hold in his hands, pockets, and whatever bags he had on him.  _

_ Anthony turned into his room, grabbing his backpack and dumping everything out onto his bed. His eyebrows came together as he tried to figure out what he was going to need for whatever the fuck was going on. Clothes, probably. He rolled some up and shoved them into the bottom. Anthony reached under his bed to grab his pocket knives that he used normally just for hunting when he’d go out with his father for rabbits or squirrels. He knew there were flashlights downstairs, and it was likely that his father had already grabbed some. Anthony gathered some extra items like a blanket, a couple extra boxes of ammo, and a box of cigarettes.  _

_ Once he had finished in his room, he zipped up his backpack and went back down the stairs, seeing that the kitchen had been completely ransacked by his father. Cabinets had been left open, the fridge was open, and food was all over.  _

_ This was more serious than he had thought, obviously. Anthony stood on the stairs for a bit longer, frowning, before he heard a struggle outside. _

_ He rushed down the last couple of stairs and to the door, where he saw his father with a knife, facing a slouched creature. It had the build of a person, but it’s skin was flaky and gray, and it had next to no hair. All he could think was that it was the ugliest thing he’d seen in his life. _

_ “Dad, what-” A scream interrupted him. Anthony really didn’t want to turn to look, but he couldn’t stop himself. He turned his head to the left and saw his aunt on the ground, another creature knelt over her writhing form. She screamed and wailed, and Anthony could see the bright red coming from her neck and dripping from the creature’s mouth as it feasted.  _

_ “ANTHONY, GET THE AXE AND KILL THAT DAMN THING!” His father yelled to him, turning for a brief moment to look at his son. He was about to yell something else, but he was cut short when the creature lunged at him again, taking a chunk out of his shoulder with one hard bite. It was safe to say that Anthony had never heard his father scream like that. _

_ His eyes grew wide as he watched his father fall to his knees, trying to fend the creature off. Get the axe and your gun, Tony. He told himself this, moving quietly onto the porch. “Da-ad?” He whispered, glancing back over to his aunt, who now lay still. _

_ The creature that had been attacking her now stood and turned towards Anthony. It had nothing in its eyes - just pale. It made a gurgling noise and began to slink towards him. He quickly shuffled backwards and slammed the door; he wouldn’t have been surprised if the door had fallen off its hinges.  _

_ Anthony turned and began to look around, trying to figure out a good place for him to get out. The window was still open in the dining room, he could get out through there! Without a second thought, Anthony ran through the house to the dining room, where the spilled lemonade was still drying, and the sandwich was beginning to get hard. He hadn’t managed to grab his gun, but he could deal with that later. He simply could not stay for any longer, and he knew that.  _

_ He slipped himself through the open window, glancing around to make sure he was alone for a moment. Hopefully those things on the other side of the house wouldn’t hear him. He began to sprint away from the house, not even knowing where he was off to, but he knew it might be safer in the forest, where he could get up into tree and be safe and maybe- _

“Heya, Race?” A hand gently came down on his shoulder, causing him to jump. “The sun’s down. We should get inside.”

Race looked up to the person speaking. It was Spot, his closest friend through this entire time. He was glad he’d met Spot, and he smiled softly, nodding and getting to his feet. “Okay.”

The two of them walked to the stairs, Spot leading Race, and they ducked into the makeshift bunker for the night, which was filled with very quiet conversation from the others who had joined up with them, as well. It was cold down there, but Race liked that. Cold was better than hot, he had decided that after two years of being stuck outside for the most part. The cold was so much easier to get away from than the heat.

“Who’s taking watch for the night?” Asked a voice that belonged to a black-haired boy, Romeo.

“I can. Finch took it last night, and the rest of you seem really tired.” Piped a tall boy, Henry, scratching the back of his head and getting to his feet.

Race tipped the bill of his hat up a bit so he could look at the crew. There were six of them right now, though there had been seven earlier that week. As of now, it was himself, Spot, Henry, Finch, Romeo and Mush. The seventh kid, who they called Buttons, had gone off to hunt the other day. Well. . . Hunt the creatures, to be exact. That was four days ago, and he hadn’t come back. Nobody was really willing to go out by themselves to look for him, either. They felt really guilty about that, but it was really dangerous out there, and none of them wanted to end up hurt or dead, like they assumed Buttons now was. It was better just to accept that now and forget about it.

“A’ight. Henry’s on watch, then. Rest of us should shut up and go to bed. Don’t wanna be attracting the walkers with our talking, right?” Said Spot, patting Race on the shoulder before walking over to his makeshift bed and beginning to settle in.

Race gave Henry a little smile and just said. “Wake us up if anything happens.” He handed the boy one of his knives, though he doubted he needed it. The six of them had more than enough weapons. A few guns, knives, hammers, and more. 

Once Henry was up the stairs, Race walked over and sat on top of his blanket, inhaling the stagnant air that hung in the cellar. With a few candles still lit, he could see just enough to pull a thoroughly folded item from the pocket of his backpack. He unfolded it, careful not to wake the other boys, and relaxed when he saw the faded image of his mother, where she belonged, on her little happy swing, in her pretty yellow dress, smiling widely back at him. Race could feel a little smile tug at his lips as he brought the image closer to his face so he could kiss it gently before finally folding it back up and tucking it away again.

He blew out the last candles and tucked in for the night, not knowing what the next day may bring. 


	2. Rice and Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is in his emo phase, Jojo is sleepy, Buttons is a dumbass, and Albert is nice. That's basically it.

“I don’t care what you grab, as long as you grab something for us to eat.” Grumbled a boy who was sitting next to the dying fire, poking at it absently with a stick.

“I’m only gonna go if someone comes with me. It’s suicide to go into town alone!” Replied the boy who was grabbing supplies from his tent, letting out a few curses about the other kid.

“God, okay. Both of you, shut the hell up. Once we get the food, we’re back up and moving, got it?” Voiced a third, obviously irritated boy. He had red hair and freckles that dotted his cheeks and nose. “Blink, wake Jojo up and take him with you. Take a gun.” He quickly got back to disassembling his tent, turning his back to the bickering group.

Blink nodded and kicked a little bit of dirt in the direction of the boy sitting by the fire. “Put that out, Jack. We’re leavin’ when we get back, anyways. The smoke is only gonna attract them, anyways.” He sighed before turning and ducking into a tent, shaking the last one awake.

The sleepy kid sat up, rubbing his eyes, which were red and puffy from being in the forest. Allergies were a bitch, especially in the zombie apocalypse. “Huh? Need something, Blink?”

“Yeah. I’m going into town to see if there’s any stores that haven’t been scavenged. Grab food if there is any. Albert wanted you to come with me while he and Jack take the camp down.” He grabbed a shirt and shoved it towards Jojo, who was already nodding and getting out of his bundle of blankets.

Outside, Albert had finished taking down and packing up his tent, and was now staring at Jack, who was still sitting. “Y’know, it wouldn’t hurt to quit being an ass. We can’t survive in this world if we can’t survive in a camp with each other.” Albert gestured towards Jack, who didn’t turn to face him. Albert sighed, running his hand along the back of his neck, and he quietly walked over, sitting on the ground across the fire from Jack, watching him in silence.

He looked up and gave a little smile to Jojo and Blink as they waved, letting him know that they were heading out. Jojo had a hatchet in his hand, and Blink had the gun. Once they were out of sight, Albert lowered his gaze back to Jack, who was staring into the embers of the firepit.

“Hey. I know how shitty this entire situation, and that-” Albert furrowed his eyebrows, trying again. “Jack, we couldn’t do anything to save him. Someone with a leg like that can not survive out here, and you know that.” His own eyes were drawn to the heat of the embers, and he pursed his lips thoughtfully. “If we had stayed there with him, Jack, we would have died. Crutchie told us to go, he knew that we would have died.”

Jack finally looked up, but there was not a friendly expression settled on his features. It only soured as he went through his thoughts. “Quit talking like we didn’t have a choice. _We had a fucking choice and we left him to die_. His voice was raised, and Albert took the moment to look around, making sure there was nothing nearby that he could see.

“Shh, Jack, be quiet.” He held his hands up a bit defensively. “I know, Jack. M-maybe he got out, somehow? That really is a possibility, you know. Crutchie is a lot smarter and tougher than we give him credit for.” He really had no confidence in his words, but maybe he could ease Jack’s nerves a bit.

“You- Albert, you really think he could have gotten out of that situation? We were being swarmed! Nobody could have made it out of that, much less someone in Crutchie’s state!” Albert had to shush Jack again.

“Okay. I’ll stop bothering you about it, but you really need to stop acting like this to the others. We all miss him, Jack.”

“. . . I know.” Jack lowered his head and placed it in his hands, going quiet again.

~~~

Jojo could still feel the lack of sleep clinging to him as his lids threatened to close at any moment, but he had to stay up and following Blink into the city. The bags under his eyes were growing darker and bigger by the day, and all he really wanted to do was sleep for a few years. However, with the world in its current state, that wasn’t much of an option if he wanted to survive.

“How you holding up, Jo?” Blink asked over his shoulder as they neared the edge of the forest, spotting the boring side of a stone building. He pointed to it, as if Jojo couldn’t see it too.

“Just tired, is all. I’ll be good, though, especially if we manage to find some decent food.” He found himself smiling softly at the thought of something that wasn’t squirrels, birds or berries. “I just hope there aren’t many walkers in there, too.” Jojo could feel his voice lower into a nervous whisper.

Blink shook his head, stopping in his tracks before they entered the town. “We both know that’s not likely. But we’re just gonna get in and get out, it’ll be perfectly fine!” He reached back and gave Jojo a pat on the shoulder, quietly moving and peering around the building.

It was a relatively small town, most of the windows of the buildings had been smashed in at this point, and it really wouldn’t surprised either of them if they found nothing. Blink turned and nodded to Jojo, who returned the gesture, and the two of them began to move along the sidewalk, sure to keep low and check inside each building they passed.

Blink kept the rifle he was carrying loaded and pressed firmly against his shoulder. For having only one eye, he was an incredible shot, and the rest of the boys trusted him with the weapon. Jojo, on the other hand, hated the idea of holding a gun. He was afraid he’d hurt someone without meaning to, so he liked to stick with knives and axes. Even if it meant having to get up close to those things, he didn’t mind; they hadn’t killed him yet!

Nearing the convenience store, Blink and Jojo pressed themselves against the wall, Jojo silently peering in. He quickly brought his head back and looked at blink, shaking his head and mouthing ‘walker’. Blink nodded, frowning, and he quickly took his gun off of safety and moved towards the door with quiet feet.

~~~

Well, this _fucking sucked_. Buttons had gone off alone, and all the others had expressed how bad of an idea that was, but he went anyways. At this point, he was wishing he would have listened to them. Now he walked with a limp, having sprained his ankle after slipping down a slick hill back in the forest. That’s why he was lost from the rest of the group, and he couldn’t get back up the hill, so he just had to keep going.

He held his sickle low as he neared a town, trying to listen for any movement or voices. Nothing. Okay, that was good. Buttons just wanted some food or supplies for a fire, and he hoped that there was something - anything - in the town. He winced, shifting his weight painfully as he walked between the buildings slowly. Once he was out on the street, he took note of his surroundings. All the walkers that had been nearby must’ve moved on at this point, but his presence would likely draw some back again, so he had to be quick.

Buttons ducked into what he assumed was a convenience store, quickly stopping to make sure there was nobody - nothing - else in there with him. Once he was sure of that, Buttons began looking at the shelves, finding himself increasingly disappointed at the lack of supplies that remained after years of abandonment. Well, what could he really expect? They were two years into an apocalypse, all the convenience stores in the goddamn world were probably wiped clean.

As he limped along one of the aisles, his good foot came into contact with something, and he kicked it along the floor. His eyes moved, and his face quickly twisted into one of disgust. It was the head of a walker, mouth hanging open, pupil-less eyes staring back at him. “Ah, fuck. That’s nasty.” He mumbled, peering over the shelf. Buttons finally saw it. There was a bag of rice on one of the shelves. His face lightened instantly, but before he could move,

_CLICK_

He spun around towards the door, finding himself face to face with the barrel of a long rifle. Buttons raised his hands a bit, stepping back.

The kid on the other side of the gun wore an eyepatch, and if Buttons wasn’t currently scared for his life, he’d have wondered what the story behind that was. “It’s not a walker, Jo.” The boy spoke, keeping the gun pointed at Buttons, who shook his head rapidly.

“Huh. Sure looked like one when he was walking.” Another boy emerged from behind the doorframe, looking Buttons up and down with a curious expression.

“Wha- no! Of course I’m not a walker! I just came here to get food and there’s some food over there!” He was still walking backwards slowly, trying to put as much distance between himself and the gun as possible. However, of course with his luck, he stepped wrong on his bad ankle. It caused him to gasp and lose balance, falling backwards into one of the shelves with a loud crash.

The two still standing just watched him, and the one who was named Jo stepped forward slowly, reaching out a hand to help him up. “Have you been bitten?” He whispered, not wanting to make any more noise than had already been made.

“What? Do you think I’ve been-”

_“Have you been bitten?”_ The one-eyed kid spoke a little more firmly, raising the gun back up, having previously lowered it when Buttons had fallen.

“No! I haven’t.” He looked down at his ankle, which was swollen. “No, this- it’s a sprain. I fell in the forest.”

“Blink, we shouldn’t stay here for long, especially with this kid falling and making a bunch of noise.” ‘Jo’ said over his shoulder before moving around the shelves and grabbing the rice from where Buttons had spotted it in the first place.

“What should we do with him then, Jojo? He’s gonna die if we leave him, especially with that injury. He can’t even hardly keep himself on his feet. Should we take him back to camp?” Blink lowered the rifle finally, putting the strap over his shoulder, though he didn’t take his eye off of Buttons.

Jojo shrugged, shoving the rice into his backpack and getting back to his feet. “Yeah, we can bring him back. It’s been half a year since we’ve found another person- well, _living_ person, I should say.” He gave a hollow laugh, rolling his shoulders and looking at Buttons. “It’s up to you, though. What’s your name, kid?”

“W-well, my friends called me Buttons, so. I guess you can call me that. And yeah, I’ll, um. I’ll come with you guys. Strength in numbers, or something, right?”

“Oh, that’s cute! Buttons!” Jojo grinned and walked back over to where Blink was standing.

“Okay, well. Come on, we should get back. I’m sure Albert and Jack are already packed up.” Blink turned and began to walk, glancing briefly in both directions to be sure there were no walkers on the street behind them. It was clear that he was much less enthusiastic than Jojo seemed to be.

The trio merged back into the forest, and after a few minutes, walking was getting harder and harder for Buttons, especially with a backpack weighing him down. The fact that he really couldn’t stop didn’t help. If someone wanted to survive, they had to stay on the move. He did his best to keep the winces and cringes off of his face, but it was obvious that he was failing at that what Jojo spoke up.

“You okay? Looks like you’re in pain.” He had fallen back to match Buttons’ pace, and Blink had slowed a bit to make the walk more manageable for Buttons.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. There’s really nothing I can do about it, y’know?” Buttons tried to smile, looking at Jojo, who was frowning back at him.

Jojo nodded slowly and reached over to give his shoulder a quick squeeze. “We’re almost back to the others, maybe you can sit for a couple minutes when we get there.” His frown melted into a smile, and Buttons moved his eyes back forward so he could watch where and how he was stepping.

“Looks like Jack has finally decided to be helpful.” Blink turned around, laughing to himself. “Alright, Buttons. Albert is the weird ginger kid and Jack is the guy with the whole sulky-teenager-thing going on right now.” He gave an easy smile when Buttons nodded.

“Hey, you guys are back sooner than expecte- who’s that?” Jack looked up from his task of packing his bag, arching an eyebrow and looking at Buttons. His displeased expression grew a bit when Blink and Jojo didn’t answer his question.

“Where’s Albert?” Blink walked up to the camp, taking the rifle off his shoulder.

“He’s just over there, think he wanted some quiet.” Jack pointed off into the forest, where the ginger boy was standing. Blink nodded and waved for Buttons to follow him.

“We won’t let him have some quiet.” He chuckled, clearing his throat as they neared Albert, causing him to turn around.

“Oh, hey Blink-” His gaze settled on Buttons, and he fell quiet, examining his face. “Buttons? What the hell are you doing out here?” Albert smiled a bit, taking a step closer to him and opening his arms in the offer of a hug.

Buttons tilted his head, arching an eyebrow in brief confusion. But the memories quickly came back to him, causing his eyes to go wide. This was Albert! That kid in his math class years ago! He had always helped Albert with the homework, and they’d been good friends, it was incredible that he was here now. “My god, what are the odds?” He accepted the hug gratefully, letting out a relieved sigh.

Once he released Buttons, Albert nodded to Blink, letting him know that he was free to go help finish packing up. He looked back to the kid in front of him, shaking his head. “How many years has it been since we’ve seen each other? Four?”

“Yeah, about four, I think.”

“So, why you all alone out there? Did Jo and Blink save you or something?” Albert leaned his shoulder against a tree, looking at Buttons.

Buttons just shrugged. “No- well, not really. There weren’t any walkers in town, so there wasn’t really any saving. I was alone because I got separated from my group, and-”

“Separated from your group? How’d that happen?”

“W-well, I didn’t really listen to them and went off on my own in the first place. Slipped, hurt my ankle, and now here I am.” Buttons looked down sheepishly, pressing his lips together to hide his embarrassment.

Albert chuckled involuntarily. “That’s what you get for being a dumbass. But, hey. It’s good to see you. We’ll let you rest that ankle of yours for a little bit,” he gestured to the swollen ankle, “and then we gotta keep moving, if you’re up for that. If not, there’s, uh, not really an option for that. Maybe we’ll run into your old group or something, too, if they’re nearby.”

Buttons turned slightly to look at the others of this group, nodding absently. “Okay. That sounds good. I’ll try not to slow you guys down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! I'll try to be updating pretty consistently!!! my tumblr is @mighty-fine-life and my discord is rocketangel#8592 :))


	3. The Heat of the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very much a filler chapter for things to come :)

The feeling of dread never left Race when he stood over the body of a walker. While people like Spot saw them as monsters that deserved to die, Race simply couldn’t shake the thought that they used to be people. The memory of his family that day was usually enough for him to ground himself, fortunately.

“Think that was the last of them?” Mush asked, lowering his weapon and running a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply.

Finch shook his head slowly, eyes scanning the treeline. “Tough to say, but there’s no reason for us to assume we’re safe.” He sighed, running his tongue along his lip as he thought. “But we shouldn’t stay here. It’s obvious that they know we’re here by now. We should pack up and get a move on.”

Each of them nodded or hummed their agreement. All of them took a moment just to make sure they weren’t injured or, worse, bitten.

Before Race could duck into the bunker to grab his things, a hand came down on his shoulder, and he glanced behind himself to see Spot looking at him with a sincere expression. “Where should we go?” His voice was nearly a whisper, and Race cocked his head to the side, wondering why he was acting like that.

His eyes lifted briefly and he looked at the others, who were cleaning weapons or checking clothing for any valuables. He watched as Finch mumbled a few words to Romeo, though he couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. Race saw Romeo nod with a sullen countenance.

Race finally looked back down at Spot and shrugged. “If those were the ones that got Buttons, maybe we ought to go in the direction he went. There might be a chance we could find him somehow? Or- I mean, at least what’s left of him.” Admittedly, he was regretting more and more letting Buttons go off alone. If he or someone else had gone with the poor guy, they could be at least a little more sure as to whether or not he was okay. Race really hated not knowing, especially for something so crucial like the life of one of his friends.

Spot let his hand fall back to his side and he just let out a long sigh, shifting his weight. “I. . . I really don’t think that’s a good idea. I think that’s only going to get us into more trouble, but I guess that direction is as good as any.” He moved around Race to get into the bunker.

Finch had retrieved one of his knives from a zombie head and was busy cleaning it. Race walked up to him, his hands anxiously tugging at the hem of his shirt. Looking up from his task, Finch smiled brightly. “Hey, Racer. What’s the plan, then?”

Race stood for a moment, observing Finch’s face, looking for any sign of concern, earning a confused eyebrow raise from the boy. He then nodded briefly over to Romeo, giving a general ‘what’s up?’ expression. It caused Finch to shake his head rapidly, his smile fading in an instant.

“Nothing, nothing! He just told me he really doesn’t like dealing with those things. Makes him feel like he’s killing people.” He adjusted how he was standing so that he could glance over at Romeo, who was now talking with Henry. Finch sheepishly rubbed his arm, eyes flicking back to Race. “He’s fine, I promise.”

Race could relate with Romeo’s dislike in killing them. After all, when he saw them, he was always brought back to that moment of watching his aunt and his father fall before his eyes. It was likely Romeo had been through something similar. None of them talked much about their first experiences in the new world, nor their lives before it. It was memories like that which could cause someone to lose their mind. Missing an old life was not much of an option here, especially since there was no possible way of ever going back to it. Maybe Romeo was thinking about it a bit too much.

He nodded, gently patting Finch on the shoulder. “Okay. I trust you.” He then briefly remembered Finch’s first question, shaking his head and rewinding. “Oh. The plan is for us to go in the direction that Buttons went, see if maybe we can find him somehow. Even if we don’t, we just gotta get away from this area.” Race turned slowly and began walking back to the bunker so that he could gather his things.

Once everyone was aware of the plan and ready to go, off they went. Finch and Romeo took up the back, holding quiet conversation. Race was honestly still not sure what to think of their odd attitudes in the past few hours. It was probably best for him to just brush it off unless it became a problem.

They had all come to the agreement of hating the summer. Especially with having to stay on the move, it was a pain to stay walking in the heat. The fact that they were limited to how much water they had access to definitely didn’t help, either. There had been a few occasions of someone getting dizzy or even passing out due to the sweltering heat. Henry was complaining to Mush about the sweat that beaded his forehead and made his backpack uncomfortable.

Race turned towards Spot and mumbled quietly, “what if we find Buttons and he’s. . . You know.”

“Yeah.” Spot glanced up for a moment to think. “I guess we’ll have to put him down if that’s the case.” He gave a weak shrug, looking at Race.

“Mmh. . . I hate this.” He sighed, bringing a hand up and running it through his hair, which was practically drenched in sweat. It was hard enough to kill the ones that he hadn’t known when they were alive, but someone that he knew personally for over a year? That would be an entirely different story, and it was one that Race didn’t want to dwell on. He uneasily locked his hands around his backpack straps, eyes focusing on the ground as he walked.

As time passed, they were all getting more than a little bit tired. Spot looked over his shoulder and froze in his tracks, bringing a hand up to bat Race on the shoulder. He did the same, arching an eyebrow as he angled his body to look at the others. His eyes scanned for a moment before he realized what it was. Romeo was leaning helplessly against Finch, pale and in a daze.

Finch’s face twisted into one of concern as he gingerly took Romeo’s weight, helping him to sit on the ground against a log. The boys were like a swarm for a moment, gathering around poor Romeo. Finch moved some of Romeo’s hair out of his face and took his sleeve to dab away some sweat on his forehead. “Think it’s just the heat.” He looked up at Race and Spot, eyebrows furrowed. “How much water do we have left?”

Spot shook his head. “Not much.” He pursed his lips briefly as he thought. “Okay, Mush and I will go look for a river or something, but we won’t go too far. If we aren’t back in an hour, then. . .” His eyes moved over Romeo’s face. “We will be back before then.”

Romeo didn’t respond to Spot or Mush as they headed off, just leaned his head back against the log weakly. “I don’t. . . Feel good.” He mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut.

“It’s okay,” Henry had knelt down beside him and had a hand securely on his shoulder, “they’ll be back soon enough with water.” He looked up at Race with a small shrug, unsure if that was true.

Race eyed Romeo and Finch, not entirely sure what he should believe. He crossed his arms over his chest with a deep sigh, but didn’t say anything.

~

“He was fucking bit, you know.” Spot spoke through clenched teeth as he walked, keeping his eyes trained forward.

“W-well, I mean. You don’t know that for sure, Spot. Maybe it really is the heat!” Mush looked up at the sky, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand over his forehead. “If he had been bitten, he probably would’ve told us, right?”

Spot finally glanced at Mush with an incredulous fire in his eyes. “Okay. If it’s the heat, we should find some fucking water. If he was bit, I’m going to _fucking_ kill him.” His hand tightened around his hatchet until his knuckles turned white.

Mush frowned softly, but remained quiet this time around. It was clear that Spot was upset about the possibility of Romeo being bitten. He turned his head forward again, afraid that if he spoke again, that hatched would be at his neck. There were no signs of water yet, and they’d been searching for a good thirty minutes. Mush’s feet were getting sore, and Spot’s worry was silently eating away at his conscience. They continued mostly in silence, only breaking it to ask one another if they’ve seen or heard anything that could be water.

The quiet was nice, in Mush’s opinion. Normally he enjoyed the light banter and conversations of the rest of the group, but he found himself a little more relaxed with the silence.

“Hey, wait-” Spot brought a hand up and held it against Mush’s chest, stopping him from moving any further. “Do you hear that?” His voice became hushed quickly, and his eyes scanned the dense greenery.

Mush tilted his head and stopped walking, a subtle frown playing at his lips as he listened. Everything sounded mostly normal, aside from the rustling in the bushes. His eyes shot to Spot in a moment of panic.

This was definitely a fight or flight moment, they’d just have to figure out which.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this one took so long to finish and that it's so much shorter than the other two!!! I still hope you enjoyed reading it!! :)


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